Improved metallic safety seal foe railroad oars



A H. MARTIN. METALLIC SAFETY SEAL FOR RAILROAD CARS.

No. 61,222. Patented Jan. 15, 1867.

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HENRY MARTIN, or oruoaeo, ILLINOIS, assrenoa TO HIMSELF, A. H.

, TOWNE, AND A. J. AMBLER.

Letters Patent No. 61,222, dated January '15, 1867.'

IMPROVED METALLIC SAFETY SEAL FOR RAILRIOAD GARS.'

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TO ALL WHOM IT MAY concerns:

Be it known that I, HENRY MARTIN, of f Chicago, Cook county, State of Illinois, have invented a Metallic Seal for-Railroad Cars; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description thereof,

.referenee being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view-0t the seal ready for use. Figure 2 shows the same when its ends are fastened together. Figure 3 is a sectional view of the eyelet fastening.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

This invention is designed for the better security of'railroad cars from loss by theft, by furnishing informationat what point on a road a car may have been opened. It consists in a simple device, which is so constructed that it can be readily attached to the locks, bolts, or other fastening of a. car door, in such manner that-the door cannot be opened without breaking or so mutil'ating the device that the fact will at a glance be discovered, as will be hereinafter described.

To enable others skilled in the art to understand my invention, I will describe its construction'andoperation.

The metallic seal, whichl have represented in the drawings, is made of a thin strip of metal of any required length, and gradually taperel, from its extremities to its centre, 1), so that this latter point of the scaling st'rip will be much narrower than its'ends. These strips may be cut out of scrap tin, or other tliiumetal, by suitable machinery, so that they can be sold very cheap; and in forming them a hole, a,'is made near. each end, of a suitable size to receive a common eyelet. These-strips are bent in the centre or smallest part, as shown in fig.

1, and they are ready for use. The mode of using them is to insert one end through a staple, lock, eye, or other projection from a car door which forms part of its fastening, then press the ends of the strip together, insert an eyelet, c, through the holes a a, and, with nippers that are adapted to the purpose, clinch the eyelet firmly. With the common eyelet-clinching nippers the ends of the eyelets can be so firmly spread out and pressed into the metal of the seal that .it would be impossible for a person to separate the ends of the seal again without such fact appearing. Shonild the fastonings on the doors of cars not admit of the use of this seal, staples may be driven into the doors and their jambs above or. below the fastenings for receiving the seals. The object of making the strips narrower in the middle than at their ends is to admit of their being readilybroken when it is desired to open a car door; also to aflord the required amount of metal at the ends of the stripsfor receiving the eyelet fastenings.

I Having thus described my invention, I claim as a. new and useful article of manufacture-- A metallic seal, consisting of a tapering strip of metal which is constructed for receiving an eyelet, and

having its ends secured together thereby, substantially as described.

HENRY MARTIN.

Witnesses 0. W. GLAPP, W. D. PUTNAM. 

